1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to wireless communications, and in particular, to a method for providing a wireless telephone service that enables a benefactor, such as a parent, guardian or an employer, to provide a beneficiary, such as a child, ward or employee, with essential wireless telephone communication services, including an ever ready emergency communication “safety net,” at a low subscription cost, while eliminating or limiting the costs to the benefactor of the non-essential use of the service by the beneficiary.
2. Related Art
The recent global proliferation of wireless telephones and pagers is a testament both to the needs of people to communicate conveniently with others, regardless of their location and the availability of conventional fixed wire telephone services, as well as to the effectiveness of wireless services in filling those needs. Consequently, millions have subscribed to one or more wireless services, including cellular telephone, paging, and voice mail services, for reasons of both convenience and personal or business necessity.
In many instances, persons subscribe to such services for their own benefit, but in some instances, for the benefit of others as well. For example, most children or teenagers and many adults cannot afford to subscribe to a prepaid wireless service on their own behalf, or cannot qualify for a post-payment service because of credit or legal capacity issues. However, parents often subscribe to a cellular telephone or paging service on behalf of their children, and indeed, some adult children may subscribe to a service on behalf of infirm or elderly parents or other family members. In such cases, the primary reason for the benefactor subscribing on behalf of the beneficiary is often one of the security or safety of the beneficiary, i.e., the provision of a communication “safety net” that can be used by the beneficiary in emergency situations to summon help, or to reassure the benefactor of their whereabouts and safety. In other cases, such third-party subscribers may be employers who wish to provide their employees who are mobile, or who are otherwise away from a central office, with the ability to communicate on business matters with the home office or their co-workers conveniently and effectively, regardless of the employee's location.
However, such third-party service subscriptions are not without certain potential cost drawbacks. For example, the provision of a cellular telephone to a teenager on an unlimited, guaranteed post-payment basis can quickly become a very expensive arrangement for the parent, for reasons that will be appreciated by most parents. On the other hand, if the dependent is provided with the service on a pre-paid basis, a profligate use of the service by the dependent can quickly exhaust all of the available “air time” credit in the account, making it impossible for the dependent to make or receive calls, and substantially diminishing the “safety net” aspect of the subscription. A similar situation obtains in the employer-employee context, i.e., unlimited use of a wireless telephone by an employee for personal or non-business related calls can become either prohibitively expensive for the employer, or render the service unusable for essential business purposes.
A long felt but as yet unsatisfied need therefore exists for a method for providing a wireless telephone service that enables a benefactor, such as parent, guardian, employer, or the like, to provide a beneficiary, such as a child, relative, ward, employee, or the like, with essential telephone needs, including paging, voice mail, and an inexhaustible emergency communication “safety net,” at a low subscription cost, while eliminating or limiting the costs to the benefactor of the non-essential usage of the service by the beneficiary.